Martins Mill Keeps Tourney Crowns At Home

MARTINS MILL — No one could have asked for two better games to close out the Bryan Mewbourn Tournament on Wednesday night.

Martins Mill fans could not have asked for a better outcome.
The Mustangs turned away longtime rival LaPoynor, 56-46, in the boys championship, just a couple of hours after the Lady Mustangs took a heartpounder over Hubbard, 40-38.

Physical and intense from start to finish, the Martins Mill-LaPoynor battle hearkened back to the days when the two were district foes.

"It’s an old, heated rivalry between us, but we have a lot of respect for LaPoynor and knew that even when we built leads, they were not going to lay down at any point," Martins Mill Head Coach Trae Moore said after the game.

Despite being forced to play the up-tempo game the Flyers favor, the Mustangs performed well, especially in the closing minutes. Up 24-16 at halftime, Martins Mill withstood a strong rally in the third as LaPoynor’s Justin Hilton had the hot shooting hand.

But the Mustangs never allowed LaPoynor to take the lead and re-established a five-point edge going into the fourth. From that point, it was largely Boot Brantley’s free-throw shooting — 11-for-14 in the final quarter — that helped keep Martins Mill on top to the end.

Brantley, an all-tournament selection, finished with 20 to lead all scorers while tournament MVP David Fox put in 10 points. Hilton wound up with 18 to lead LaPoynor.

The Lady Mustangs’ did things the hard way. Coach Doug Barncastle’s team struggled for most of the contest with turnovers and missed shots that, on most nights, are automatic.

"We found a way to win at the end," said Barncastle. "We were down by six with 3:12 left but our girls did a great job keeping their composure and they forced some turnovers on defense that gave us a chance to win."

Touranment MVP Emily Williams had just six points at halftime, but found her touch in the second half to finish with 17. On this night, though, it was fellow junior Joanna Daniel who hit big shot after big shot. Daniel drained four three-pointers and connected on the two winning free throws with 8.2 seconds left, finishing with 18. Daniel, Taylor Munns and Meagan Weatherford were all-tournament selections.

The Lady Mustangs had breezed into the finals with a 60-25 win over Como-Pickton followed by a 64-36 victory over Zavalla.

The previous night in the boys tournament, the Mustangs delivered one of their best defensive efforts of the season to squeak by Edgewood, 35-34. Fox had 17 in that game and Cody Kight, the Mustangs’ other all-tournament selection, scored nine.

Edgewood, held to four points in the first and fourth quarters, was led Darrius Rogers and Dillon Parmer with eight points each. The Bulldogs snapped back on Wednesday to take third place in the tourney, topping Mount Pleasant Chapel Hill, 62-44.

Rogers, an all-tournament player, scored 16 to lead that win. Parmer finished with 11 and four players — Wyatt McBride, Kiin Tuma, Josh Sharff and Colten Hinton — chipped in six points each.

"We extended the lead we had at halftime and that’s something we constantly talk to the kids about, keeping up the pressure on defense to get some turnovers and lead to some easy buckets," Edgewood Head Coach Jay Jameson said. He praised the efforts of McBride, Tuma and Austin Fleming off the bench during the tournament.

The other two Van Zandt County varsity squads in the tournament came away with mixed results. Canton, which started with losses to LaPoynor and Avery, came back with victories over Crossroads and Scurry-Rosser. Eric Walters, Roy Denbow and Tre Stieler scored 10 points apiece in the 52-33 win over Crossroads.

Grand Saline took wins over Scurry-Rosser and Crossroads followed by losses to the Martins Mill junior varsity and Alto, repectively. Kyle Keahey’s eight points led a 46-42 win over Scurry-Rosser, while Taylor Phelps poured in 27 in a 67-42 win over Crossroads.

The Martins Mill JV gave a good account with the win over the Indians and in losses to their varsity brethren, Avery and Como-Pickton.

Edgewood had quite a test in the tournament’s opening round against Austin Hyde Park Baptist.

Dillon Parmer and Darrius Rogers provided 16 points each to help the Bulldogs nip the Panthers, 72-69.

"We knew they were really good," Jameson said about the opposition. "They have beaten some really good people this season."

Things got a little hairy down the stretch as Rogers and Josh Sharff both fouled out. However, Wyatt McBride sank a free throw and Austin Fleming put in two more in the closing seconds to help Edgewood hang on for victory.

"I think we may have run out of gas toward the end, but at the same time we played a lot of people," Jameson said. "We had to have everybody today.

"Fleming did a great job taking care of the ball. We needed that because they (Hyde Park) put a lot of pressure on us. I thought he handled it pretty well," Jameson added.

Calvin King reached double figures with 11 points, followed by Kiin Tuma and Colten Hinton with six each, Fleming with five, Sharff and Gabe Milton with four each and McBride with three.

Hyde Park Baptist junior Brooks Pawsat poured in 35 points to lead all scorers.

The Canton Eagles gave LaPoynor a tough battle in a 56-46 loss Monday morning in the first round.

The Eagles, led by 14 points from Eric Walters, were down by double digits in the fourth quarter against a LaPoynor team that had won five straight before Christmas.

However, Bret Botard’s crew made things a little less comfortable for the Flyers in the last two minutes. A 3-point bucket by David Aaron chipped LaPoynor’s lead down to seven with 1:03 left in the game.

Tyler Yarbrough answered a LaPoynor free throw with a basket with 43.3 seconds remaining to get Canton to six, 52-46, but the Flyers were able to close it out from there.

Yarbrough finished with 10 points, followed by Aaron with seven, Stephen Malouf with six, Ethan Fields with five and Roy Denbow and Justin Richard with two apiece.

Senior Justin Hilton put on a show for LaPoynor with 33 points.

Grand Saline suffered a 47-29 setback against Slocum in the first round.

Slocum raced out to a 16-4 lead at the end of the first quarter and really put the game out of reach with a 12-4 run to start the third quarter. They led by 21 going into the fourth.

Taylor Phelps led Grand Saline with 12 points. Sam Joyce added nine, Anthony Jackson had four, and Kyle Keahey and Jordan Tittle scored two points each.

In the girls tournament, the Lady Mustangs started in fine fashion, trouncing Trinidad, 59-23. Emily Williams had 15 points in the first half and finished the contest with 20. Joanna Daniel tossed in 11.

Kenzie Roberts finished with eight, while Taylor Munns and Meagan Weatherford scored six apiece.